Couple jailed for human trafficking, rape

Court of First Instance sentenced a man and a woman five years in prison on charges of human trafficking.

The Nigerian man, 36, and a woman, 32, a visitor from Ghana, were found guilty of forcing two women into prostitution. The man was also sentenced to three years jail rape, reported 'Khaleej Times'.

Both will be deported after serving their terms.

The couple tricked two women into UAE with a job offer at a restaurant. But upon landing they were forced into sex trade by threatening to hurt them physically and emotionally. The defendants also held their passports and visas.

One of the complainants, a 23-year-old Nigerian woman, said: “They picked me up from the Dubai Airport in April last year and headed towards Abu Dhabi.”

They allegedly threatened her saying she would have to pay them $20,000 if she wanted to leave the country and go back to Nigeria.

An Emirati police major told the prosecutor that one of the two women complainants filed a police complaint through the Nigerian embassy.

Many women were there working as prostitutes. In her statement, she alleged that the defendant used to drop her at night clubs where she would pick up men to have sex with them for money.

She escaped and sought the help of a Nigerian man, and he told her to inform the police.